Ballots Still Being Counted in San Joaquin County

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STOCKTON–

We’ve known since election night that President Obama won the 2012 presidential race. But, not every race has a winner yet.

The San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters still has nearly 53,000 ballots to count.

“We’re painstakingly going though each and every vote” says Austin Erdman of the Registrar’s office.

So far, Republican Bill Berryhill has a slight lead (51% to 49%) over Democrat Cathleen Galgiani in the race for the 5th Senate District. There are still thousands of votes to be counted in San Joaquin County for a total of four undecided races.

The registrar’s office says 20% of those registered to vote by mail this year decided to turn their ballots in at the very last minute.

“We have been going over fourteen days straight,” Erdman told FOX40.

By state law, Erdman and his staff have four weeks to count every single vote.

“We’re going through this weekend and we’ll keep going until it’s over” he says.

When the ballots are boxed up and counted, they are held by law for 22 months at the San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters Office in Stockton in the event of a recount.